[66279] in Cypherpunks
Re: possible solution to cyber S/N
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Igor Chudov @ home)
Mon Sep 23 21:20:55 1996
To: vznuri@netcom.com (Vladimir Z. Nuri)
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 18:54:40 -0500 (CDT)
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com, vznuri@netcom.com
Reply-To: ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov)
In-Reply-To: <199609231847.LAA29832@netcom5.netcom.com> from "Vladimir Z. Nuri" at Sep 23, 96 11:46:59 am
From: ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home)
Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote:
>
> taking this idea to the cyberspace arena, the application is
> immediately obvious-- pages that are linked to by a lot of
> other pages are valuable, those that are not are not as
> valuable.
>
The above is wrong from two standpoints:
Locally: if my taste is sufficiently different from that of other people,
why should I follow their preferences?
Globally: Vladimir's recommendations lead to a vicious circle of
"tyranny" of popular sites because hte more people view a site, the more
will follow and the site's "attractiveness" rating will go even higher.
It is similar to a recommendation to buy stocks when they are rising.
If enough people follow it, stock crashes like in 1929 are imminent.
- Igor.
